Wine Fam Trip

Napa Valley Wine Country Tours is starting a $99 tour that includes a Napa Valley Winery, Lunch in Sonoma and two Sonoma County Wineries. All tasting fees are included as well.

The tour is in a luxury limousine style coach complete with a fruit trays, assorted breads, cheeses and plenty of bottled water. The coach has maps and video screens that are used to educate their guests on terroir and the special aspects of the Sonoma and Napa Valleys.

They pick up in Union Square and Pier 39

The first stop was at Jessup Vineyards. While we tasted their premium wines, we were educated on the wine making and style. Jessup Vineyards does the sit down tasting which is much more comfortable and allows for a more serious understanding of the wines.
Then we toured the barrel room

We then went to Corner Stone in Sonoma for Lunch. Here is a group shot of everyone on the fam trip. It included folks from the Ritz Carlton, Marriott, Hotel Abri and of course the Chancellor gang.

We had a great lunch in an outdoor gazebo

After lunch, we went to Jacuzzi Vineyards where we tasted olive oils and their Italian varietals of Sonoma County Wine.

After Jacuzzi, we went to Roche Winery where we tasted several wines in their barrel room. They served us 4 wines right from the barrels. Then, we went to the tasting room for a few more samplings of their great wines. Roche also offers horse back riding at their vineyards.

After a great day of wine tasting, we were served crudités on the ride back down Highway 101 over the the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was a great day and very informative wine tasting experience. When you factor in lunch and the tasting fees, along with the VIP experience, the $99 tour price is a good deal.

Elvis and Great Italian Food...What more could you ask for?

I had the pleasure of seeing James Clark's Tribute to Elvis at Fior D'Italia Restaurant last night as part of the Thursday night series.

It is a great show and great food. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the evening. If you are an Elvis fan or just enjoy a fun show with dinner, check it out.

The flier doesn't have all the dates, but they told me the show had been extended 3 more weeks. You can check with Fior D'Italia at http://www.fior.com/ or 415.986.1886 for more information.

Fior D'Italia is America's Oldest Italian Restaurant since 1886. It is located in North Beach on the border of the Wharf Area at 2237 Mason Street.

The Chancellor Hotel had a celebrity guest...

Ms. Chase Masterson just checked out the other day. She was very gracious during her stay with us providing autographs and pictures. Chase Masterson portrayed the Bajoran Leeta on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for five years (from 1995 to 1999), and Ivy Lief on General Hospital.

We will add Chase Masterson to the elite list of celebrities that have stayed at the Chancellor Hotel such as:

Andrew Shue

Andy Dick

Nadia Comaneci

Bill Press

No, that is not Spock in the middle. It's Matt our bellman

The Chancellor Hotel Staff Participates in the California Hotel & Lodging Association's Legislative Awareness Summit in Sacramento

Four of us from the Chancellor Hotel went up to the Capitol on April 1st (no fools) for the Eighth Annual California Lodging Industry Legislative Awareness Summit to advocate:

♦ Opposition to the economy hotel crime bill (SB 355) - Which requires "economy" hotels to post at the front desk and on their website all of the calls for service through 911. Well intentioned, but terribly flawed legislation.

♦ Support of meal-rest period legislation (SB 287) - We are just looking for clarification and mutually agreed upon flexibility.

♦ Educate the legislators on the importance of meetings and conferences to the industry. It is amazing how much damage the leaders do when they vilify meetings, resort travel, retreats and the like. When companies cancel their meetings, retreats and travel, it is the many hotel workers and local small businesses that depend on the hotels like event managers, photographers, florist, taxis, limos, shuttles, tour operators and more that suffer. Not to mention all of the local and state tax revenue that is lost. Travel and meetings mean business.

We joined Approximately 300 members of the California Hotel & Lodging Association (CH&LA), the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), the California Lodging Industry Association (CLIA), and the California Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns (CABBI) to meet with over 100 legislators at the Capitol.

Following opening remarks by Tony Bruno, Vice President of Hotels and Downtown Disney and the event chairman, the audience was treated to Deborah Marriott Harrison, Vice President of Government Affairs for Marriott International, Inc. who spoke on the need to be involved.

The keynote speaker for this year's legislative summit was Steve Poizner, California gubernatorial candidate and State Insurance Commissioner (pictured), who discussed moving the California economy forward.

Other presentations at the Summit included a panel of CH&LA, CLIA, and AAHOA lobbyists, among others, that was moderated by Marlene Colucci, Executive Vice President for Public Policy, American Hotel & Lodging Association detailing the issues and providing tips and tricks when visiting the legislators. Also, CH&LA’s past President & CEO and current Member Legal Advisor Jim Abrams along with Hitesh Bhakta from the Law Offices of Norman Filer gave an update ADA laws and the impact to the hotel and lodging industry.